Musings —04.03.2021 09:17 AM
—An encounter
Improbably, ran into an old Ontario Liberal friend, who – like most of them – had scooted up the 401 to become a pensioned Trudeau Liberal.
Small talk. Social distance. This and that.
Him/her: So, what happened with you? Was it that nomination? What changed?
Me: Wasn’t any of that.
Him/her: Then what?
Me: You all became evil.
They all know that this Prime Minister can provide no credible justification as to why he should continue in office. The record is clear. But all of them have absolutely no problem with that as they long ago sold their souls for position and privilege. Mark my words, we will see none of them wrestle with their conscience and then FINALLY break with the PM before the next election. Not a chance. And that says so much more about each one of them than it does about Trudeau himself. History will not be kind to that lot.
It will be 15-20 years for the Liberal Party to recover from Team Corruption when things finally come crashing down. Another 100 years or so for Canada to fully recover from the mess they’ve made.
Yes the devastating effect of the WE scandal and the Prime Minister’s disallowed helicopter fight will resonate for decades to come despite the fact it has yet to have a significant impact on the polls.
But it was all worth it to have a PM with nice hair.
Walter,
Harper also had impeccable, although cement looking hair thanks to his stylist. Harper not only had grey matter on top but also within. What Harper lacked was sound judgment on where the country was and just how far they would let him go without voting against his government. I had most of those answers up until 2010 when I threw in the towel. Too bad he never could get over the 2005 revolt otherwise he might still be prime minister with a moderate middle-of-the-road conservative legacy. But Harper thought he was smarter than the moderate Conservatives…he wasn’t and to no one’s surprise among the moderates, he lost.
Warren–we’ve just gone through a long spell here in the Lower 48 during which the White House, and then much of the rest of the Republican party, regularly labelled their opponents as “evil.” That didn’t work out so well, and we will be dealing with the repercussions of that for many years to come. Demonizing one’s opponents may be effective in the short run, but it’s corrosive over time.
Tod,
Delusion inevitably flows from the top: no one is more delusional in the Trump Republicans than Trump himself. I will make my prediction now in 2021: they will inevitably fold on Trump and Trump has less than zero percent of being the nominee next time. It’s already over for Trump in 2024. The TRs are far too cowardly to tell him to his face but the mindset has already set in quietly to move on in order to win the presidency. A Republican dog or goat has a better chance of winning the presidency than Trump has. Trump is now and in perpetuity Mr. 40%. You simply can’t win with numbers like that so bye, bye, Donald! It’s all about getting and keeping power. Trump killed his chances the moments his encouraged dolts and pawns invaded Capitol Hill. They are done as dinner and most of them know it.
Ronald–I think you’re right about the presidency, but Trump could indeed get the nomination, under some conditions. If he has an impact on the mid-terms, and specifically primary challenges for Senate seats, he could be in a strong position. In a multi-candidate primary field in 2024, he’d get a plurality, given the unshakeable nature of his base. That base doesn’t care about the lawsuits and legal proceedings, and it’s going to be very activated against Biden. So, if he gets a plurality in the first four or five primaries, who will stop him in a smaller field? I’m not sure there’s a Republican (as of yet) who could beat him one-on-one. Trump himself will also make it hard for one to emerge, since he will hold the spotlight with an in-or-out narrative; that could freeze the field for potential successors. He doesn’t want to be a kingmaker; he only wants to be king.
That said, the general is an entirely different story. The lawsuits and criminal charges (if they emerge) will matter. He’ll always carry his performance on COVID. Fundraising might actually be an issue, since his base doesn’t write big checks, and the major donors don’t like him. He’s not going to look better in the rearview mirror.
Tod,
My gut tells me he’ll find a challenger for every Senate and House member who didn’t lick his ass. The most obviously, of course, is [Little] Marco Rubio, who likely will be primary challenged by Ivanka. He can’t come up with someone to take on Sasse, since Sasse is in place until 2027. So, that’ll boost Sasse for 2024 and my money will be on him as the primary challenger should Trump get in. And I’m still going with Ivanka for 2024 but ONLY if she beats Rubio and serves in the Senate until 2023-24. Trump would love a Trump dynasty, especially one that would span three generations.
“Demonizing one’s opponents [is] … corrosive over time.”
So is a federal party that ignores its own wrongdoings, hides in the dark corners, takes (WE) and offers (federal press buyout) bribes at will, fires uppity women and closes ranks around the abusers that love pretty socks. Corrosive is any federal party that runs on election reform and then cans it as soon as they figger out they’ll never win again if it goes through. Corrosive is a party that continues in its latter-day sins through a supposed electoral ‘upbraiding’ while delivering less vaccines per capita than 33 other nations, all the while expecting to continue as the natural ruling party.
Corrosive is Canada, sir. And the sooner we all figger that out, the sooner we can elect/appoint/anoint/crown/whatever an effective government that represents not only pretty hair and catchy, stumbling soundbites, but the people of our great nation as well.
I sometimes wonder what Jean Chretien and Paul Martin think of the current Federal government’s fiscal policies. The amount of debt being incurred and no plan to return to a surplus destroys their legacy of sound fiscal management. I may not have liked their politics (I supported the Reform Party) but they did the right thing in stopping these endless deficits.
The parallels between the Trudeau cult here and the Trump cult in the US are striking. In both cases, once respected politicians have vaporized their credibility to bend the knee to the cult leader, even when that leader has been proven unfit to hold the high office they hold. Never mind the regular cult members that accept or excuse the lies and the gaslighting.
ORGASM ALERT:
Just found out that Trump has apparently stiffed Rudy as regards his bill for services rendered. Too funny and entirely predictable. Somewhere, Roy Cohn is smiling, if he doesn’t already have a white-hot poker shoved straight up his ass.